Search results for ""author leonard"

ÊEric Clapton Day by DayÊ presents Clapton's professional life in music in a day-by-day format giving details of which bands he joined and left all recordings made ä both released and unreleased ä as well as guest appearances he made on other artists' records and concert tours. This special slip case edition features both volumes covering Clapton's early years all the way through to his recent tours and collaborations.

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Since 1973 KISS has recorded over 20 studio albums; been recognized as an innovator in rock presentations; witnessed a firestorm of rumors and controversies; remained a thorn in critics' sides; and continues to surprise its massive fan-following the KISS Army with various career twists and turns. Moreover many television shows movies toys and even comics have kept KISS a bigger-than-life name in entertainment for decades.ÞYet with all that has been written over the years there are subjects that fans have never put to rest when it comes to the hottest band in the land : What were the most significant concerts? Why did ÊPhantom of the ParkÊ turn out that way? What were the best ä and worst ä album covers? How did the comics come about? And what the heck is a deuce?ÞThese subjects and more appear in ÊKISS FAQÊ ä showcasing the good bad and the weird that has made KISS the legendary ultimate rock-and-roll party band still going strong after 40 years. Accompanying this entertaining work of solid rock scholarship are dozens of rare images ä from posters to live shots and beyond. Also included is a foreword by Bill Starkey the creator of the original KISS Army.

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Launched in 1967 ÊGuitar PlayerÊ was the only guitar publication in existence when the '60s and '70s six-string explosion ignited across the globe. As a result ÊGuitar PlayerÊ interviewed scores of seminal guitar stars as the magic happened. Now ÊGuitar PlayerÊ has opened its archives to present a thrilling collection of articles that detail the equipment and tone explorations of transcendent guitarists such as Eric Clapton Jimi Hendrix Jimmy Page Jeff Beck Duane Allman Steve Howe Peter Green and many others. Every article originally appeared in the 1970s when these young guns were in the midst of conjuring world-changing guitar sounds riffs and musical concepts ä all building the foundation for what has become revered as classic rock. Anyone wishing to study the building blocks of what drove audiences to first utter the phrase Guitar Hero can now get the story straight from the players who earned the title.

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To speak of Gerard Schwarz ä musician conductor festival organizer gig hopper educator television personality patron and proselytizer of the arts ä is to tell an exemplary American story.ÞYou could convey it exclusively in clich©s from his industrious ©migr© parents to his precocious childhood from his ardor and diligence as a prodigy trumpeter to his meteoric rise as a conductor from his unforeseen cross-country migration to the gradual construction of a world-class orchestra in a city formerly regarded as a cultural backwater from the halls of New York City's High School of Performing Arts to the digital instructor's chair of the All-Star Orchestra's Khan Academy course series.ÞYou could simply recite the numbers: over 300 new works premiered over 350 recordings in his discography 14 GRAMMY nominations five Emmy awards six ASCAP Awards and hundreds of other honors and laurels.ÞYou could dazzle and festoon and bewitch with talk of truth and beauty and the pursuit of ever-higher forms of artistic expression.ÞOr you could tell it Jerry's way.ÞÊBehind the BatonÊ is a quintessentially Schwarzian memoir: intrepid forthright risible subtly self-assured and entirely unpretentious. It offers an intimate inside look at a man whose immense talent is rivaled only by his humility and work ethic ä a man who for nearly fifty years has strived to leave every orchestra and musician he touched better than when he found them. Whether you're a classical music aficionado an orchestra initiate just cutting your teeth or an everyday reader interested in the remarkable story behind an extraordinary man ÊBehind the BatonÊ belongs on your nightstand.

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Giuseppe Verdi's operas have a special place in the hearts of audiences and in music history. They are grand in scale and yet intensely human in their ability to convey the joys and sorrows of ordinary people. Celebrated as a national treasure and venerated for his civic historical and musical influence Verdi enjoyed an enviable and almost uninterrupted success with the public throughout his long lifetime and a corresponding posthumous glory that never seems to wane. Celebrations have recently been held around the world to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth and to celebrate and promote his rich legacy.ÞIn ÊVerdi's OperasÊ each of Verdi's 26 operas from ÊObertoÊ to ÊFalstaffÊ is studied in detail The plots are described act by act and the works are analyzed and placed in the context of history and of the composer's creative career. The book also examines the literary sources that inspired the maestro's dramaturgy and presents profiles of the librettists who worked with him at the time. Lavishly illustrated with striking artwork photos and scenes from Verdi productions this book will delight opera buffs and casual readers alike.

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8-page photo insert

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When 20th Century Fox planned its blockbuster portrayal of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor it looked to Akira Kurosawa ä a man whose mastery of the cinema led to his nickname the Emperor ä to direct the Japanese sequences. Yet a matter of three weeks after he began shooting the film in December 1968 Kurosawa was summarily dismissed and expelled from the studio. The tabloids trumpeted scandal: Kurosawa had himself gone mad; his associates had betrayed him; Hollywood was engaged in a conspiracy.ÞNow for the first time the truth behind the downfall and humiliation of one of cinema's greatest perfectionists is revealed in All the Emperor's Men. Journalist Hiroshi Tasogawa probes the most sensitive questions about Kurosawa's thwarted ambition and the demons that drove him. His is a tale of a great clash of personalities of differences in the ways of making movies and ultimately of a clash between Japanese and American cultures.

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